FILM INTERVIEW: The End of America?!

The End of America? An Interview with Film Producer Avram Ludwig

Rob's Quick Note: In his thought-provoking new movie, based on citizen activist Naomi Wolf’s book The End Of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot (Chelsea Green, 2007) Ludwig suggests that the U.S. Constitution, and indeed democracy itself, is under siege here in the United States. His film “The End of America" will be featured at the Big Picture Café and Theater’s 2009 Mountain Top Human Rights Festival (running from Wednesday, Wednesday January 14 – Sunday, January 18) on Saturday, January 17 at 7:00 p.m., and again on Sunday, January 18 at 5:00 p.m.

Join Avram and best-selling author Naomi Wolf on Saturday night, January 17 at the Big Picture for a public dialogue (as well as good food, drink and conviviality).

For tickets, information, and a complete film festival schedule, visit www.bigpicturetheater.info, or click on the link above.

Here, I interview Avram Ludwig about his film “The End of America." While I take issue with his suggestion that the Barack Obama administration will actually be able to undo much of the legacies of the Bush/Cheny regime (an unpopular view in Vermont at the moment, I know), he has helped make one of the more important political documentaries of our time - and we are excited to host him in Waitsfield this coming week-end.

The End of AmericaThe End of America

Q. How did you come to make "End of America"?

A. I met Naomi at a Halloween Party, she was dressed as a sexy feminist and I knew if I wanted to get a date, I had to come up with a good pick up line. "Let's make a movie out of your book." But seriously, I'd been living the past eight years with this mounting sense of fury at my own powerlessness at my government's almost daily shredding of the Constitution. I had been reading about the torture, the denial of habeas corpus, the copying of everyone's email since 2005 by the NSA, Blackwater on the rampage in Iraq and New Orleans then pouring money into the coffers of the RNC, and the horrible strategic mistake of the war. All these things made me so angry, but when I read Naomi's book, I could see a systematic effort of political intimidation of the press and the Democrats, and I knew I had to make the movie.

Q. In what ways, exactly, does your film suggest that "America" is "ending"?

A. George Washington and his comrades gave us a great gift when they set up the system of checks and balances and the protection of individual rights. Free speech, freedom to demonstrate, due process, protection from search without a warrant, separation of the military and police. Washington was offered more and more power throughout his career and instead of trying to keep it, he kept giving back when he was done with it. This is the essence of American Democracy, and it takes self-discipline and self-restraint to practice Democracy. Everyone has to abide by an objective set of rules. When politics is practiced as if it's war, winning is everything. Democracy can't survive that.

Q. Why select Naomi Wolf as your "red thread" here - what qualities does she bring to the movie?

A. Naomi was able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, how the government was making a systematic effort to undermine democracy. She's also a fantastic communicator, a great rabble rouser and someone that people instinctively trust. Unlike a politician, she has nothing to gain from all this, and she always writes the story of her emotional connection to an issue, so you can read her social theory and social criticism and be incredibly moved.

Q. The book "End of America" is a critique of the eight years of the Bush/Cheney administration. With the election of Democrat Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency, doesn't that weaken the film's argument?

A. I think we dodged a bullet, without the economic meltdown, I think we would have had a very scary and much closer election. A lot vote stealing and vote suppression both illegal and legal was in place for implementation in the last election and was essentially called off. A closer election could have been stolen, but Obama was clever and had a lawyer in every polling place in the country. Also, PBS teamed up with YouTube to ask people to film and post anyone being denied the right to vote. Rove saw the writing on the wall and made statements the week before the election that if Obama didn't win, there would be riots, and he was right. On October 1st, Bush moved a brigade specializing in crowd control back from Iraq to the US in violation of Posse Commitatus, the American legal tradition to strictly separate the Army from policing except in the event of insurrection. The day after the election, Bush brought two more brigades and now the plan is to bring 20,000 troops for use in the US by 2011. This is the greatest hallmark of a police state, and the most dangerous one. When the leader can start using the military at will, the constitutional checks and balances are meaningless.

Q. Will Obama really offer an alternative to the Bush/Cheney regime?

After he got elected, Obama went on 60 Minutes and reaffirmed his promise to close Guantanamo and stop torture - two major concerns in End of America - and he's made nominations for the Presidential lawyers and Solicitor General and CIA Director that would make you think that the Bill of Rights will be respected.

The major question: is will Obama press to undo all the legislative damage done to the Constitution in the post 9/11 legislation? We have to think of the damage as a trap that has been set.

END.